Job Discussion Forums

Nauczyciel

Last time when I visited HK I wanted to take a day trip to Macao but I was severely disappointed and unpleasantly surprised when I found out the jetfoil cruise cost a few hundreds or so. Now I'm planning to visit HK again and give Macao a second try. Does anybody know of a cheaper ferry to Macao? I'd appreciate your help. Thanks!

Netminder · Joined: 09 May 2005 Posts: 54

Jetfoil or catamaran are your only choices, but same price.
($120 before 5:30, even more on weekends).

Get ahold of these characters for discount weekend packages:
www.china1travel.com

Other than that, you can try flagging down a saipan.

dandan · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 183 Location: Hong Kong

I've got an inflatable ring in the shape of a duck you could borrow.

bellabella · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Hong Kong

i am sorry but i don't feel that $120 each way is at all expensive!! remember this is about an hour long trip (depending on the ferry). you would pay alot more than that in other countries. what exactly do you feel would be a "reasonable" amount to pay??

Nauczyciel · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:29 am Post subject:

I didn't say $120 was too much, but that I remembered the price was "a few hundreds or so" and that seemed too much to me then. I went to Macau a couple of days ago and the HK-M ticket was $141 while M-HK was $142. This makes almost $300 for a round trip and if you're not a lone traveller the cost is well above half a thousand HK$. I'd prefer it was cheaper, but still it was worth paying.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Actually the boats go to Macau, not Macao; you can clearly read the name on their one-pataca coins.
But I have never heard of ticket prices in excess of 200 kuai.
I have just travelled from HK's Sheungwan pier to Macau and paid HK$ 140 (or 145, I forgot). While I do think the fare to be excessive it is a far cry from your claim to having paid several hundred. It gets a little more expensive on weekends and on holidays as well as after 6 p.m. (or so) due to demand.

This is a classic supply and demand situation although, although, although...Stanley Ho, owner of Macau's premier casino, is seeing to it that supply doesn't exceed by much demand. You can call that a monopoly.
But the same principle obtains on the Sheungshui to Lowu leg of the KCR line: you pay a hefty 19 dollars for those lousy 2 kms, and a moderate 11 or so for the 20-odd kms from Sheungshui to Kowloon.
It helps that beyond Sheungshui the railway line cuts through restricted border territory...

once again · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 815

It is Sheung Wan and Sheung Shui, it clearly states so on any map of Hong Kong.

And I have it on very good authority that the Portguese spelling of the former colony takes an O and not a U. Should you wish to check this out, please go to http://www.gov.mo/egi/Portal/index.jsp where you will find the official site of the Macao/u government, where both spellings are used on the same page.

Or you could try this one http://www.unescap.org/unis/member.htm

That willl even tell you when the name was changed.

Happy surfing Roger.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I would rather YOU taught me the correct spelling, ONCE AGAIN.

The Portuguese spelling in use even now is MACAU; since the handover the immigration slips you have to fill in have a 'Macao" in the ENGLISH translation under the Portuguese one which still says "Macau".

What does that say about the spelling?

That Macau's local authorities have reverted to a spelling I didn't know wwas in use centuries ago.

Or they have to ask the supreme sovereign in Peking how to write the European name of their territory...
Either way, it is risible! And your answer hasn't helped much.

once again · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 815

OOPS, did of course mean to write that the official ENGLISH spelling was with an O.
Sorry.

Nauczyciel · Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:35 am Post subject:

Dictionaries say "Macau: Portugese name for Macao". Roger, your post about my alleged misspelling was completely irrelevant. The fact is, in my first post I used the English spelling and only after I went to the place and saw the coins and all did I start using the Portugese spelling (not that I care about that much). But that's beside the point.

Now, to the question of my "claim to having paid several hundred". I didn't say I PAID, I said I was disappointed to have found the price as high as "several hundreds or so". If it's not clear from my previous post, let me clarify: I didn't travel alone and the price I remembered was for two return tickets.

Some of the posters find the price (one-way HK$141) to be reasonable (bellabella), others excessive (Roger). I do think it's too much and what makes me a bit annoyed is the fact that the so-called "night service" starts right after 5:30 PM which means the price rises by HK$30 out of the blue. But for me that's a non-issue now, because I have already been there, done that etc. From me, it's EOT then.